Spiny lobster fishery on the Mahe plateau November 2001 - January 2002

The present report reviews the spiny lobster fishery on the Mahe Plateau for the 2001/2002 fishing season. The monitoring programme, set up in 1992, was continued this season to collect more information on the spiny lobster stock in order to improve and maintain proper management of this resource around the Mahe Plateau. For the 2001/2002 lobster fishing season, a total of 40 licenses were issued namely twenty seven on Mahe, five on Praslin and eight on La Digue. Similar to previous seasons, the most frequently used lobster fishing technique was snorkelling which involved 32 fishing units, whilst only four units used the trap method and one used both snorkelling and trap. For this three-month fishing season, a total of 5.5 tonnes of spiny lobsters were estimated to have been landed compared to 10.2 tonnes in 2000-2001 fishing season. Most landings were on Mahe, which accounted for 58.44 % of the total catch (3.214 tonnes) followed by Praslin with 13.89% (0.77 tonnes). Both La Digue and Silhouette groups had landings of 0.5 tonnes each. The month of November accounted for 1.36 tonnes, while 3.37 tonnes was landed in December and 0.81 tonnes in January. A total of 350 trips were undertaken equivalent to 803 man-trips for the season with 107 trips in November, 193 trips in December and 50 trips in January. The snorkelling and trap capture methods represented 96% and 4% of the total catch respectively. The catch rates represented by catch per unit effort(CPUE) throughout the season were as follows: - 12.75 kg/trip(November) - 17.49 kg/trip (December) - 16.35 kg/trip January). The main species targeted were: Homard Grosse Tete (Panuliruspenidilatus) Homard Rouge (Panulirus longipes) Homard Vert (Panulirus versicolor). The catch composition by fishing method was as follows: a.) Snorkelling: b.)Trap: Homard Grosse Tete: 65.68% Homard Grosse Tete: 14.21% Homard Rouge: 26.83% Homard Rouge: 85.79% Homard Vert: 7.07%

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Isidore, M., Payet, R.J.
Format:	Report biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Victoria: Seychelles Fishing Authority 2002-12
Subjects:	Lobsters, Fishery data, Catch statistics, Fishery statistics, Lobster fisheries, Catching methods,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/1834/1335
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